The management of Prague is negotiating with the owner of the dilapidated Vyšehrad railway station about the possibility of exchanging the listed building for municipal land in Dolní Počernice intended for the construction of family houses. Jan Chabr (TOP 09), the town council for property, told ČTK today after a meeting with the owner’s lawyers. The situation could be complicated by the fact that the station will be owned by MIQUELIRA LIMITED, registered in Cyprus, instead of the current Czech company RailCity Vyšehrad. According to Chabr, negotiations on the shift should continue anyway.
The building, which was declared a cultural monument in 2000, has been in private hands since 2007. Investors previously planned to rebuild the building, but the plan also failed due to difficulties in enforcing the project with conservationists. The building has been dilapidated for a long time. The city fined the owner several times, and initiated the first steps to possible expropriation, which the Monument Act allows. At the same time, however, the municipality is negotiating with the owners about the possible exchange of real estate for city plots.
According to Chabr, the land in Dolní Počernice was designed by the owner’s legal representatives themselves, with whom the city communicates. The final owner is unknown. Today, the councilor specified that there was a mortgage study on the land in question, according to which family or smaller terraced houses are to be built there. The Lower Town Hall also took part in the negotiations, which wants to know exactly what the investor would build there, and also demands guarantees that the land will not be used only for speculation.
After today’s meeting, Chabr said that negotiations would probably continue despite the change of owner. “Rail City Vyšehrad’s lawyers have confirmed that the transfer to a Cypriot entity is underway. It can also be assumed that the new owner will be interested in further negotiations on the exchange,” he said. He added that from his point of view, everything gives the impression of only a formal transfer, after which the real owner will remain the same, and it cannot be assumed that anything will change in the approach to the maintenance of the monument.
From the city’s point of view, the transfer to a Cypriot company may, according to Chabr, complicate the situation. “Honestly – I pray that this does not mean an attempt to transfer the property to an entity that will not take any care of the future of the station and will easily let it continue to fall into disrepair,” he said. He added that the change of owner will complicate the enforcement of the owner’s obligations and fines as well as possible expropriation, because this is conditioned by long-term neglect of maintenance, which is, however, excluded for a formally new owner. Communication and service of documents will probably also be problematic for a Cypriot company.
The station building was built between 1904 and 1905, the operation of the station was stopped around 1960. Now it is not possible to restore the original function, because modern standards do not allow to place the station in a bend. The city is planning a train stop on Výtoň instead.
Source: CTK and DmKon
